Nicolas Boichat arrived to Singapore yesterday afternoon. His energy is amazing: with 20 hours of travel behind him, and the next flight leaving at 7 am today, he still agreed to have dinner together. So we took the metro to Bugis, and from there walked five minutes to a restaurant called Zam Zam. A widely known restaurant (featured e.g. in lonely planet), they serve a Singaporean speciality called Murtabak. You can see a picture of these and a more detailled description on the Travelling Hungryboy.
Fountain of WealthWith replenished stomachs, we continued our journey. First, we strolled through Arab street, Nicolas eagerly distributing tips… I learned where one could smoke a Shisha and drink a beer at the same time, something which usually is not possible because the Shisha bars are muslim. Using the metro, we then got to City Hall. Nicolas wanted to show me Suntec City, which is in fact… gigantic. The “City” consists of five sky scrapers, whose lower levels form a shopping centre. The higher levels are used as conference rooms and offices. All the buildings are arranged around the Fountain of Wealth, which is proudly presented as the largest fountain in the world. Water is sprayed into the air in the middle of the fountain, then falls down and reenters the cycle, symbolising the flow of money. A place where western culture and eastern tradition clash in a surprising way…
More things to see as we walked through the esplanade, a cultural building where concerts, art exhibitions and theatres are held. From there, it’s only two minutes to Marina Bay, where one has the sky scrapers on one side and the sea on the other.
Many more things have I seen that evening. Many thanks to Nicolas for guiding me around. I will certainly return one day to see Parkview Square, Raffles Hotel, the Suiss House and all the other wonders of Singapore.